I recently had a helicopter crash start on a small-ish island. The first time that has happened.
I did my best to accumulate the tools to survive, and managed to cobble together a makeshift hammer and luckily I started with a multi-tool. Very little to work with though in terms of material.
Now what I normally do is completely avoid googling for solutions because the great thing about this game is that you can discover what is possible through in-game methods like crafting and the interface filters, but I was so short on resources I decided to google the situation, and was presented with so many spoilers that luckily my cortex overloaded and I regained consciousness with a much deeper understanding of why it is so hard to tear paper in a straight line and complete memory loss of anything I might have inadvertently glanced at regarding escaping from islands and swimming and sprinting exploits. Also seem to have developed a knack for long sentences…
Anyway, I have put that game to one side for now because it got a bit frustrating and started a new one for the time being. I will continue to re-visit it as I discover things in my other games that give me some inspiration and that leads me to what I really wanted to share.
One great thing about this game is it’s consistency of design, so that it really rewards looking within the game world for what should make sense, considering what you have learned, within the game.
That is so important, and almost totally neglected in other games. I cannot stress how important this is and how rare, and how appreciated.
I suspect if I read the design documents I would see some reference to it but I also want to avoid spoilers so I am not doing that. I just wanted to express my appreciation.
If that character dies of starvation or exposure on his island it will have been loads of fun simply trying to find out if survival was possible, within that in-game situation, with what was available.
So, thanks for that.
Surviving with limited tools and relying on the wilderness (assuming you were on one of the wooded islands and not a desert island which is just sand) is easier in experimental because a couple of people, including me, love living off the land and made sure it is a viable option again.
Which means that even if you only have a sharp rock, you can work your way up again.
But yeah pure island survival is pretty hard and getting off the land is important in any case.
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That is good to know - it is version 689dfa5.
The island is five forest map tiles, although it is not heavily forested - maybe 60 trees on whole island, and some bushes etc. It’s mostly grass and some moss.
Also a good supply of cat-tails which is good.
I started as national guard with a go-bag, so have some MRE and a muti-tool to get things started and patch up the crash wounds. Plenty of clothes to butcher. Nothing to salvage from wreck apart from scrap metal, steel lumps and glass shards. I have had much better wrecks in other games.
Also some water striders that are not that much of a threat and are butcherable.
I spent the first few minutes desperately looking for a rock for hammering. Eventually smashed a boulder with a stick, that I got from smashing a small tree. Great stuff.
I am really liking that particular start, and will definitely continue it until escape/death.
If you like starts with a restricted space, you might also like the bordered scenario.
Googling CDDA related stuff can be a bit misleading, mainly because most of the stuff you will find is either very outdated (months, if not years old) or in some cases flatly wrong. Spoilers aside, because if one wants to discuss something in regards to a certain mechanic or something, it is impossible to avoid talking about spoilers.
Now, depending on what you want to find (whether if there’s an object with a certain quality, or something like that), I can just recommend you use The Hitch Hiker’s guide.
You can search for items, monsters, mutation lines or traits and find more details that you otherwise won’t find elsewhere. Best of all is it can still keep you spoiler free.
Thanks for that - I didn’t know about it.
Generally I have not really found any spoilers that ruined gameplay with CDDA because by it’s nature it is so vast and emergent. However I have found that in the past I have been massively affected by the sudden unexpected spoiler, in any media, so I am just cautiously aware of the danger.
I would much rather ask specific questions in the appropriate place (hopefully here) and also connect with the community at the same time. That way the danger is minimised and at least any ‘spoilers’ feel less like spoilers and more like shared survivor campfire chat stuff.
Since discovering this game a few weeks ago, I have totally avoided any major spoilers so far which is great. I still have a feeling of mystery similar to that at the beginning of the Day of the Triffids, where the guy is trying to find out what on earth happened. That won’t last…
A bigger problem for me at this stage is that, as a coder, and someone who loves proper rogue-likes and survival games (Nethack, Cogmind, Dwarf-Fortress, Neo-Scavenger, The Long Dark…) I just love this whole project and I can’t believe I missed it for so long I am so tempted to dive into that side of things, which I will do at some point but I really want to enjoy it as much as I can as a black box, for as long as possible.
… Anyway - thanks for the link… It’s great. I really like that is shows things in the ascii
(I am a topaz 8 man, myself) 
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has portal storms ruined the possibility of living in the woods in your opinion? it sounds like something that might have, but i’m still chilling on stable so im not sure how bad they are
No. You can hide inside improvised shelters which are easy to construct even if you have literally nothing. But if you go outside and strange beings spawn, hiding in the shelter will not immediately despawn them. I do have a fun story to share.
I playtested the Innawood mod. I lived near a clearing and made good progress, but then a portal storm started. I did some crafting to pass the time but I got dehydrated. So I grabbed my clay pots and sprinted to a nearby puddle.
Unfortunately, the second I left the shelter, three giant appendages spawn. I died within seconds. Three weeks have passed at that point. Portal storms are still something which is subject to change, so it is likely that will get nerfed.
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I have been finally able to make a shovel on my island. The helicopter wreckage is now useful!
I was able to do it starting with only what was available on the island, and my clothes. I didn’t need to use my muti-tool, or look at any other guides. The in-game help and filters, and some faith that trying things out would be rewarding in an expected way, were enough.
That was fun. Now I am god of the island. I can see what is next.
On another note, Slackware 15 came out and the first thing I did after installing it was compile CDDA.
It failed the first time, but with debug, sound and tiles disabled it built fine and runs fine.
What excellent timing!
